St. Louis Blues Send Forward Jordan Caron Back to AHL Chicago Wolves
In what could be a cap-related transaction, the St. Louis Blues returned Jordan Caron to the AHL.
The St. Louis Blues returned veteran forward Jordan Caron to the AHL Chicago Wolves on Wednesday morning. Caron, who was signed to a two-way deal by the Blues this past offseason, had been recalled on Sunday and made his Blues debut on Tuesday night against Boston, getting 9:22 of ice time and registering two hits.
While Caron may very well be heading back to Chicago for good, it’s possible that the move was just made to give the Blues some extra cushion with the salary cap. The team won’t meet or practice until the morning of December 26, so there’s no benefit to having him (or anyone who’s eligible to freely be reassigned to the minors, for that matter) on the NHL roster. The NHL’s salary cap is measured using daily pro-rated payouts, so if the Blues ultimately decide to recall Caron on Saturday, they can still avoid paying three days’ worth of Caron’s $600,000 NHL salary over the Christmas break.
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The decision to reassign Caron to the minors also increases the Blues’ flexibility with Caron over the rest of the season. Veteran players must go through the waiver process every time that they play 10 NHL games or stay on the NHL roster for 30 days, so by keeping Caron off the roster for the next three days, the Blues can lessen their chances of having to put him through waivers if they need him for an extended period as the season goes on, but then want to reassign him to the AHL later.
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Of course, if center Kyle Brodziak is healthy enough to return to the lineup by Saturday, the Blues may not feel the need to bring Caron back. They’d still have an open spot on the 23-man roster, but before Brodziak had to come out of the lineup to deal with the after-effects of a skate cut, the Blues had used the same forward group for six straight games, so it’s not as if Caron would be getting much of an opportunity anyway.